Episode 75: Inside House of Cards Part 3

Kevin Spacey attends the Netflix's "House Of Cards" New York Premiere at Alice Tully Hall on Jan. 30, 2013, in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

It’s “House of Cards” week on DecodeDC.

We are helping get YOU ready for the release of Season 3 of the Netflix series with a five-podcast special series, “Inside House of Cards.”

Today’s installment – the third – is all about the business, or maybe the bloodsport, of lobbying and politics.

One day, you’re an elected official or a political staff member. The next, you’re a member of a K Street firm trying your best to influence the very same government officials and legislators you just worked with.That’s the revolving door Jimmy Williams spun through when he went from Senate staffer to lobbyist.

In the Netflix series, Remy Danton is a former press secretary and protege of Frank Underwood turned lobbyist. He uses his connections and contacts on behalf of one main client, an energy company.

Jimmy Williams says Danton is a great character – he’s just not realistic. “You know what a lobbyist does in Washington, D.C.?” he rhetorically asks podcast host Andrea Seabrook. “Fund-raises. Nothing more and nothing less.”

Williams says being a successful lobbyist means raising and delivering the most cash to a politician. “You raise the most money, you have the most access.” And it’s all legal.

We go inside the real and fictional world of lobbying in today’s installment of “Inside House of Cards.”